Traditionally, consumer care products such as antiperspirants and/or deodorant products are packaged in an oval or round plastic barrel component. The top of the barrel is open to allow the product to be exposed and dispensed for use, while the opposite bottom end of the barrel contains a mechanism (e.g., a product support elevator coupled with a hand-rotatable screw) to assist in the dispensing of the product.
Antiperspirant and deodorant compositions are offered by manufacturers in a variety of sizes and product forms such as liquids, creams, gels, semi-solids, and solid sticks. These products have different ingredients, active levels, solvents, viscosities, shapes, and sizes to address a variety of consumer preferences and needs.
Packaging components must be adapted and designed to avoid manufacturing, shipping, storage, and dispensing problems that are associated with these different product offerings. For example different compositions may exhibit different stability profiles, may apply different internal pressures on the package, may require air-tight seals, may cause different degrees of solvent syneresis or weeping, and may require different package components for ease of and consistent dispensing.
In addition minimizing the amount of plastic used in the dispensing package is also advantageous in terms of efficiency and cost. However, thin plastic walls are difficult to make in the injection molding processes. Also in order to house compositions with different rheologies, manufacturers using interchangeable molds must make sure that the package has enough strength to work for all composition offerings. For example, more force is usually required to move a solid deodorant composition through the dispensing opening of the package than for liquid compositions. For liquid compositions more frictional engagement and force may be needed to ensure that the liquid composition does not leak around the internal components such as around the circumference of the platform. Thus it may be necessary to provide the packaging with more frictional contact between the outside surface of the movable elevator platform and the inner surface of the product chamber. This may result in more force placed on the walls of the product chamber and consequently the outer jacket. As such many of the existing packages utilize an increased amount of plastic resin, thicker walls, and/or dual chambers to stabilize and strengthen the overall package.
In this regard manufacturers desire a more efficient way of producing these numerous product offerings especially under a single brand.
Also, in dual chamber dispensers, the shape of the outer chamber may be different from the shape of the inner chamber to improve the functional and/or aesthetic appeal of the product. Dual chamber dispensers may also allow for the possibility of using translucent or transparent outer chambers that allow viewing of at least a portion of the inner chamber's colors and other visual features.
These variations across a large number of product size offerings to consumers present a major challenge to manufacturers. Manufactures have historically used a large number of injection molding parts to make different packaging components for the various product offerings. As a result, sometimes as many as 50-75 or more different molds must be developed, used, and maintained in the injection molding process, adding significant complexity and expense.
Thus, a need exists for interchangeable package components for providing packaging made with fewer injection molds. These packages must also exhibit adequate strength, flexibility, aesthetic appearance, and adequate dispensing quality for a variety of product offerings. There is also a need for dual walled packages to provide a well-differentiated line of consumer products that aid a consumer in readily selecting the desired product to meet their needs.